Syria: New Iraq Resolution Not Justified

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, February 22, 2003

Syria, the only Arab nation on the U.N. Security Council, told the United States on Sunday that a new resolution urging Iraq disarm or face war was not justified.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa spoke by telephone with Secretary of State Colin Powell, saying U.N. weapons inspectors were working in Iraq "with no considerable difficulties" and that dismantling Iraqi weapons was possible by peaceful means, Syria's official news agency reported.

"Syria sees no justification for a second Security Council resolution," al-Sharaa told Powell, the agency said.

The United States plans to submit a new resolution on Iraq early this week at the Security Council. President Bush said Saturday that Iraq was not disarming and that he was confident the council would approve the measure.

Syria believes that a new resolution, "however moderate, will give the impression that resolution 1441 has expired and will be used by the warmongers in the United States and outside as a pretext to strike at Iraq," the news agency quoted al-Sharaa as saying.

In November, Syria voted in favor of resolution 1441, which gave Iraq a final chance to disarm. But Damascus has also been a vocal opponent of a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq, saying it would have dangerous repercussions on the volatile Middle East.

Powell urged Syria to vote in favor of the resolution that Washington would put forward, the Syrian agency reported. He told al-Sharaa that Washington was "getting impatient with Iraq's hesitation to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction."

Spain, Britain and Bulgaria are the only Security Council members who have so far backed the United States in pressing for a new resolution on Iraq that could trigger war.